May 2010. Stephanie died peacefully on 19th April after a short stay in hospital. She had been suffering from acute cervical cancer. Fred will continue to run the business to the best of his ability. The web site is slowly getting under control again
as he tries to take over some of Stephanie's responsibilities, and learns some of the mysteries of Dreamweaver.

PiecesAn on-line look at cameras etc.by Stephanie
Marriott

July/August
1998

An assortment of cameras this time,
with nothing in common except that they all have
something a bit odd about their design or specification,
starting with a 126 camera with clockwork motor
wind.

The Minolta Autopak 800This 126 camera was packed with
features to make life easier, yet is now an underrated
collectible camera which barely rates a second glance.
One of the innovations which we now take for granted in a
modern compact is associated with the way the flash
works. Minolta called it the "Flashmatic" system and in
1969 it was unique. The "Flashmatic" system allowed a
flash cube to be in place at all times. In low-light
conditions, the camera would use one forty-fifth of a
second as the shutter speed, select the aperture
depending on the distance and fire the flash. In normal
lighting, the flash would not be fired, but there is
provision to "force flash". The camera has a Rokkor f/2.8
38 mm. four element lens and a two-speed shutter linked
to a CdS meter. It has a coupled coincident image
rangefinder and a clockwork motor wind. This can give 12
frame advances to one wind, but does not fire
sequentially. Despite this limitation, it was estimated
that up to 12 pictures in 14 seconds would be possible.
This is a sophisticated camera for 126 cartridges and in
1970 in the U.K. it cost £52 19s, while the e.r.c.
was an extra £4 19s. I started work in 1971, when
this camera cost much the same as in 1970 (£52.95
and £4.95 respectively; Britain had "gone decimal"
by then) and my weekly wages (as a shop assistant) were
£5. This camera was out of reach of many working
people.

Minolta did make other models, many
with the same distinctive styling but fewer
features:-

The Autopak 400X, introduced to the
U.K. about 1971. Takes Magicubes. U.K. 1972 price
£21.95. Appears to have been withdrawn from U.K.
around 1976.

The Autopak 500 (introduced 1966) has
a selenium meter, zone focusing and no motor wind. f/2.8
Rokkor lens. First appears in U.K. in 1969, when U.K.
price £29 19s 6d (approx. £29.98) Appears to
have been withdrawn from Britain within a
year.

The Autopak 550 (introduced 1969) has
a single speed shutter, CdS meter and zone focusing. 38
mm. f/2.8 Rokkor lens. Like 500, but has a backlight
control to allow flash to be used. U.K. 1970 price
£29 18s 9d (approx. £29.94). Appears to have
been withdrawn when 600-X introduced, i.e. about
1971.

The Autopak 600-X (introduced 1971) is
similar to the 550. U.K. 1972 price £31.95. Appears
to have been withdrawn from U.K. around 1976.

The Autopak 700 (UK c1967) has
different styling, Rokkor 32 mm. f/2.8 lens, coupled
rangefinder, and CdS metres. It has an accessory shoe and
coaxial connection for flash. 1967 U.K. price £40
10s 8d (approx. £40.54). Appears to have been
withdrawn from U.K. in about 1970.

The next interesting (to me, anyway)
camera is a cine camera designed for use
underwater.

Eumig
Nautica. The Eumig Nautica
first appeared in Britain in about 1979, and it
disappeared again by 1982. It has a 9 mm. to 30 mm. f/1.9
Viennon zoom lens, and was originally supplied with a PMA
wide-angle converter which gives approximately 5.3 mm.
This attachment is stored in the fixed grip and is
essential for underwater filming. These attachments
hardly ever appear second hand without a camera, so if
buying a camera for use ensure you also get the
wide-angle converter. For ease of use, especially
important underwater, the camera has fully automatic CdS
metering (with manual override) and Eumig's "Servofocus"
system that keeps the lens focused throughout the zoom
range. The drive gives a single filming speed (18 f.p.s.)
and single frame. Many of the controls are stiff as they
have to fit tightly to help keep the camera watertight -
a feature which is as useful when filming on a wet day
(in England? surely not!) as it is when underwater. Check
rubber seals have not perished; they should be kept
lubricated to stay watertight. The camera, when new, was
supplied with a big, orange, plastic framefinder that
screws onto the camera top plate for underwater use. As
well as being able to stand up to water up to forty
metres deep, the Nautica could also repel sand and snow,
making it a go-anywhere camera. It was not cheap though;
the specification is based on that of the Mini 3, which
in 1981 cost about £99 including a case. The Nautica
cost £149, including PMA converter, framefinder, and
O-ring grease and the case was an extra £19. In
Australia, the Nautica was $420 in 1981.

Finally, a camera which is interesting
for what it does not have as well as for what it does
have; I simply cannot see where Meopta expected to find a
market for this camera.

Admira
16A. In 1960 the Admira 16A 16
mm. cine camera was believed to be the first 16 mm. cine
camera aimed at the amateur market to have an electric
motor drive. NiCad batteries in the grip provided power
for variable speeds (8 - 32 f.p.s., with marks at 8, 16,
24 and 32 f.p.s.). There is no single frame. An extension
lead carried power from grip to camera when the camera
was used on a tripod; the grip has to be removed for this
operation as it utilises the tripod bush. The
interchangeable lens has a non-standard fitting but a
C-mount adapter was available at the time (also
Contax/Kiev and Pentacon adapters). The footage counter
operates from the take-up spool; a more usual arrangement
is to have the feeler operating on the feed spool. Broken
or bulk-loaded films therefore presented a problem as the
camera gave no indication of the amount of film
remaining, only the amount of film used. The camera will
take 50 ft. and 100 ft. spools but the footage gauge
gives no indication which is in use. The camera has an
optical viewfinder with provision for adapters/masks for
various focal lengths. The standard lens is a 20 mm.
f/1.8 Meopta Openar, and the camera, lens and charger
cost £112 in 1960. Accessories available included a
set of seven filters (£11 11s/£11.55) and a
titler (£7 10s/£7.50). I find this camera
baffling; the viewfinder optics are coated to reduce
reflection yet the camera has no single frame, and why
fit a non-standard lens mount?

Note: I like to give price information in both
sterling and American dollars. However, this information
is not always available to me, in which case I use
whichever I can get. I do not convert from one currency
to the other; market conditions vary and camera prices
were often very different in the U.S.A. and Britain, so
conversion would not give an accurate picture.